Fifteen years ago American composer Kenji Bunch wrote his Slow Dance for the Ahn Trio, which recorded it in 2000. The Arbós Trio’s 2011 recording is lighter in feeling and seemingly more danceable. The piece starts from various angles and works its way into a developed melody. Eventually, its engaging tune is heard in different incarnations on the various instruments, until the final moments when the piece fades to a gray fog. The most interesting melody on this disc, however, is at the beginning of Marjan Mozetich’s Scales of Joy and Sorrow. It grabs you by the ears and holds you fast for a while, but ends up letting you know that the composer is not going back to the 19th century. He is giving you a 21st-century development of the folk song he first presented. Mozetich is a Canadian citizen who was born to Slovenian parents in Italy. His three-movement work is shaped like an arch that goes from slow to fast and back to slow at the end. He builds his arch out of scales, often partial and fragmented, and he describes the emotional impact of a love relationship with his harmonies and tempi. Although the beginning of the piece may be its most enchanting part, it is a charmer all the way through. The trio plays it with exquisite technical skill from its lovely first theme through its passionate development and its eventual dénouement.

Spanish musician Jorge Grundman, who at one time played in a pop band, calls himself a writer of music rather than a composer because his compositions are expected to tell stories. A Walk Across Adolescence tells of a young man’s experiences as recollected later in tranquility. Many of these experiences are, of course, universal. The work is dedicated to Ukrainian composer Nikolai Kapustin, who has helped the Non Profit Music Foundation which produced this recording with the Arbós Trio. Grundman’s music is light jazz that has a most technical and demanding piano part. Juan Carlos Garvayo plays it with panache.

Although Elena Katz-Chernin was born in Uzbekistan, she is now firmly established in Australia, where she has written a great deal of music for the dance. Her Deep Sea Dreaming was part of the opening ceremony for the 2000 Olympic Games. Calliope Dreaming is her response to Haydn, whose symphonies she has studied in great detail. In her inventive composition, she uses quotes from his “Trauer” or “Mourning” Symphony in various forms.

Schoenfield’s Cafe Music is just that. It brings back many memories of eating before or after a concert in Vienna. It’s rhythmic, melodic, and absolutely delightful and is played with great style and technical pizzazz.

Supposedly the final piece by Chick Correa is an encore, but since this is a studio recording, that idea does not quite work. However, the light piece that ends the hybrid SACD is every bit as charming and tuneful as any of those that preceded it.

Since the players are closely miked, the instruments are well separated and the balance is optimal. You never lose track of any instrument, not even the cello when it plays low tones. All of the compositions are interesting and the level of musicianship on the part of the players is excellent.